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there are a few new things I want to try out for 2014: (in no particular order)

Circus arts classes – I tried a couple of classes out this year and enjoyed them. I would like to dedicate at least one solid term to circus arts

Trampoline sessions – I’ve wanted to try out some freestyle trampoline sessions for a few years and keep on putting it off. So i figured next year, I should just make it happen

Sew something – all i know is how to sew a button onto my clothes, and it’s not even that tidy. I’d like to learn how to make something, anything.

Woodwork – I am crap at anything that is at all design like and I would like to try and make something practical. So I’d like to explore options to either teach myself or take a class and learn how to make something out of wood.

Learn a language with my husband. The default would be to do french, because I know elementary school french and I love the language. Biggest flaw in this plan, is that I haven’t even talked about it with my husband yet.

random ideas that have just popped up:

learn to sing

learn to draw

I have to refer back to this post by the end of January and come up with a plan to make this happen and see how realistic it is to take on so many new things. Maybe 2014 is about exploring the options and map out how to make it happen.

Last week on the lululemon blog, they posted the #nohumbug challenge. I didn’t know about it until Friday.

I really liked the idea of the list, and I’ll likely do the list, but with my own twist. I’m not interested in all the challenges, and I’m not interested in doing them as they’ve prescribed. I’d rather do the ones I like, and change the ones that don’t suit me to something a bit more practical, like I probably won’t have an eggnog cocktail, but I’m likely to have a candy cane cocktail.

So far, I’ve spread the #nohumbug challenge, found a new way to get sweaty and secretly topped up someone’s parking.

I ran in late to my lunch time yoga class, in a bit of a tizzy, I set up my mat and ran to the change rooms, and whizzed back in and joined the class in downward dog.

However, I was surprised and delighted when I received an unexpected gift from a fellow classmate, that I had never met, Andrea. She was kind enough to give me a new headband from Lululemon. She works at the Lululemon Britomart store and when she saw me rushing around the yoga studio, she thought I could do with an unexpected delight in my hectic day. Funniest part of the story, I thought someone had accidentally left the headband on my mat, so I handed in to the studio for lost property. I was told after I returned from the change rooms what really happened. So I waited to say thank you and introduce myself to Andrea.

Fantastic brand initiative by Lululemon and their team and a nice small gesture, that I won’t soon forget either.

my new awesome headband. Thanks for the surpise and delight in the middle of my day!

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I did yoga on a stand up paddle board and I loved it. I went again this weekend and I’ve come up with two goals for the board.

By March 26 2014 I want to be able to successfully do a headstand and crane (or crow) pose whilst on the board.

Practicing headstand and crane on the beach, prepping to transfer to the board

I don’t have a paddle board and I’ve only done two yoga classes on a board, but I really want to get this sussed on the board. I hope I can crush this goal this summer.

If you don’t know anything about headstands or crane pose here is a quick heads up.

Headstands – also known as Shirshasana is considered a fountain of youth pose, along with all inversions. Your blood rushes to your head, your skin is hanging in the opposite direction, essentially you’re going against the flow of gravity. The longer you hold a headstand, the stronger your core becomes. I’m pretty new to headstand and can hold it 5-8 breaths. I’d like to get up to 10 breaths. Personally I also find doing a headstand helps if I feel a headache coming on, and usually if I’m feeling low on energy, headstands make me feel more energetic.

Crane or Crow – also known as Bakasana is another inversion as your head is dipped below your heart. This pose is amazing for your entire yoga practice. It’s a really good pose to become more mindful as I set my gaze, calm my mind and focus on my breathe. I also find that crane is a great pose that gets me to think more mindfully about the muscles I’m using. Crane can be considered a difficult pose and it’s the same pose that makes me smile every time I lift off.

Here we are in St. Mary’s Bay, enjoying SUP yoga. The photo is from Flux Westhaven

Last week I tried Stand Up Paddle Board Yoga for the first time and I loved it!

I wanted to try something new on my birthday, because I think its important to spend your birthday that way.

I woke up early on Saturday morning and drove across the Auckland Harbour bridge to get to the class and I was looking forward to it, and was apprehensive too.

I had been wanting to try SUP yoga for a little while and had not had the opportunity, but to be fair, I wouldn’t have taken the opportunity earlier. I had it in my head that I wasn’t good enough to do it.

I’m not sure what gave me the impression. It wasn’t a sense of self worth that I was missing, but it was the actual physical strength that I thought I lacked. I had put it into my head I had to be either good at yoga or at paddle boarding or both. I didn’t realize that had gotten in my own way, until I was presented with the opportunity to SUP yoga for my birthday. I immediately said yes, and then all the excuses came bubbling up to the surface to make me doubt my decision. However, I had already made the decision to commit and I really wanted to do something new and challenging for my birthday.

So I went and I did it and if you forgot what I wrote above, I loved it.

Getting out the anchor point was a bit of a challenge, because I had only paddled boarded once, in March, and didn’t really remember any of the technique and tips. I had already made the decision that while I didn’t want to fall in, that I would be OK if I did and it would contribute to a memorable experience. Sidebar: I definitely prescribe to the idea that if you’re not falling you’re not having fun or pushing yourself; although sometimes I forget that when I take a particularly nasty fall.

Our instructor, Katrina, had gotten a gauge of how comfortable on paddle boards we were, and also how comfortable we were doing yoga. She lead the session according to our abilities and offered modifications to poses to make them easier or harder, as suited for each individual.

It didn’t take long for me to realize the best way for me to enjoy myself on the board, stay with my breath, focus, listen to my body and find my stability, and stay with it.

The best part of doing it was the fact that I got out of my own way. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have realized just how much I enjoyed it.

If you are in Auckland, I would highly recommend coming out for a SUP yoga session. Katrina teaches every Wednesday at 6pm and every Saturday at 8am. Contact Flux to book your spot

So i wouldn’t ever claim to be a gardener. I love seeing other people’s garden, and I love learning about what someone has planted in their garden. I also love the idea of having a garden. However, I move so much, about every six months, that is up until January. This is the longest I think I’ve held an address in about 9 years. So, it’s only natural as the weather starts to turn to summer, that I want to try my hand at gardening, thankfully the husband, is also keen to have a go.

Here is a snapshot as to how our attempt is coming along. We’re not sure how much success we’ll have, but we’ve had a lot of fun so far, and some challenges, and also we’re learning a lot.

the wild of our gardens, complete with our cat that loves to stalk through it

another thrilling look at a overgrown garden bed

After all the hard work of weeding

After all the hard work of weeding the fun part began. With a fresh canvas, we were able to start thinking about what it would look like. We got some local sheep manure and mixed it with some soil from the garden centre and also started to do a weekly watering with blood and bone.

I got ridiculously excited about all the different possibilities of what to plant, and thankfully, my husband was there to be a tether back to reality.

So we went with sweet 100’s tomatoes and basil as its companion plant. We also planted parsley, roly poly carrots, marigolds (or calendula), chillis for a bit of fun, capsicums (or bell peppers), cucumbers and coriander.

check out our burgeoning garden, once we decided what to plant.

and directly across, the other garden bed.

We also purchased a gorgeous bucket of lettuces, it already has four heads of lettuce planted in it, and you just pick it as needed. We went a bit crazy, so we left it alone for two weeks and its cranking again.

Still to plant, some catnip and sage.

I’ve loved the experience so far of gardening (with the exception of the slightly achey joints), its been amazing, how many lovely people have offered us sound advice and even gifted us with plants to start with. It’s so satisfying to see the unkempt garden made over and I’ve even enjoyed the investigative part of gardening, our basil was just being chomped through, and we finally figured out it was the hungry caterpillar.

However I think the best part has been trying out a new activity with my husband. We both have a few activities that we do separately, and we have a few that we do together.

Taking an interest in the garden has been fun to do together. As mentioned early, he’s been really great at grounding me with what we can achieve, considering our garden space isn’t the largest, however he’s also been awesome in having fun with what we plant. We aren’t big chilli eaters, but we both thought it would be fun to try out something a bit different, and agreed that they’d look fantastic too. We’re sure we can find plenty of people to share our chilli’s with. It’s proved to be an activity that we both can get outside and enjoy together and it’s been fun planning and discussing the garden too. I’ve been able to be creative with what we’re planting and how to plant. The husband didn’t know anything about companion planting, but it was something I was interested in trying out.

While the motivation to start gardening has been different for both us, it’s given us something new to do together, and that has made the process really worth it. Now let’s hope we get a few little something somethings from the garden.